Mouse sensitivity, and other issues

I have a new installation of Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64 on my desktop computer. Most things are working well, but I am having a problem resizing windows. When I move the mouse pointer to the edge of the window the pointer flickers back and forth very quickly so I cannot easily grab the edge of the window. Is there a setting somewhere so that I can give the mouse some drugs to calm it down long enough to grab the edge of the window?

Also, I can't figure out how to stop the screensaver from kicking in while watching a movie. I have it set to 30 minutes, and it's annoying to be watching a video and suddenly the screensaver comes on.

And is there a way to shrink the size of the enormous mouse icon in the Applications panel widget? Ditto for the icon of the weather in the weather widget. Or is there a way just to eliminate the icons altogether and just have a label?

Re: Mouse sensitivity, and other issues

Probably better to have asked this over at Ubuntu Forums, but nevertheless...

I have a new installation of Xubuntu 12.04 x86_64 on my desktop computer. Most things are working well, but I am having a problem resizing windows. When I move the mouse pointer to the edge of the window the pointer flickers back and forth very quickly so I cannot easily grab the edge of the window. Is there a setting somewhere so that I can give the mouse some drugs to calm it down long enough to grab the edge of the window?

The width of the window frame (which is what the mouse is trying to grab) is small in the Window Manager theme that you are using (Greybird by default in Xubuntu 12.04). I don't believe this is configurable in Xfce. You could try another window manager theme - one that has thicker window frames.

Also, I can't figure out how to stop the screensaver from kicking in while watching a movie. I have it set to 30 minutes, and it's annoying to be watching a video and suddenly the screensaver comes on.

And is there a way to shrink the size of the enormous mouse icon in the Applications panel widget? Ditto for the icon of the weather in the weather widget. Or is there a way just to eliminate the icons altogether and just have a label?

Re: Mouse sensitivity, and other issues

ToZ wrote:

What do you mean by "enormous size"? Can you provide a screenshot?

I'd post a screenshot, but I don't at this time have any online place to host the image. However, I should note that the panel is on the left and 100 pixels wide, with a transparent background. Since the panel is 100 pixels wide, so are the icons for the Applications menu and the Weather widget.

Re: Mouse sensitivity, and other issues

OK, I managed to install caffeine, but I can't figure out how to use it. It asks for "processes," but I don't know what that means. I want it to inhibit the screensaver when vlc, totem, or any other media player is running. Is each program a different "process"? How do I figure out the name of the process for a given program?

I really like Xfce so far, I just need to figure out how to tweak a few things.

Oh, and I solved the problem of the big round blue applications icon. I found another one that is a dark gray mouse one quarter the size. Much more attractive. Still trying to figure out how to get the weather widget icon down to something more reasonable.

Re: Mouse sensitivity, and other issues

OK, I managed to install caffeine, but I can't figure out how to use it. It asks for "processes," but I don't know what that means. I want it to inhibit the screensaver when vlc, totem, or any other media player is running. Is each program a different "process"? How do I figure out the name of the process for a given program?

The process name for vlc is vlc and for totem it is totem. Usually, its just the name of the program. You can view all processes by looking at the Task Manager application in the System menu (if its not installed, search for and install the application xfce4-taskmanager).